You had to at least have been born in the depths of Wales to survive and raise your arms at the end of a day like that! It is therefore almost naturally that Stephen Williams, born 27 years ago in Aberystwyth, won at the top of the Mur de Huy, becoming the first Briton to win the Flèche Wallonne.
Certainly, this Wednesday we did not reach the Dantesque conditions in which Bernard Hinault won a legendary Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1980, this striking cold and these snow squalls which had decimated the peloton and spat out only 21 riders at the end. arrival (out of 174 starters). However, the 88th edition of the Flèche Wallonne, contested over 198.6 km between Charleroi and Huy, should leave its mark.
Barely five degrees on the thermometer at the start, showers of rain transformed into hail and snow and a biting wind crushed a peloton which naively thought that spring had finally arrived.
In the second of four climbs of the Mur de Huy (63 km from the finish), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), two of the favorites of the day, went through the window. They joined Dylan Teuns (Israel Premier Tech), who had set the arrow about ten kilometers earlier at the same time as David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). Also missing are Juan Ayuso (UAE-Emirates), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe)…
At the top of Chemin des Chapelles, there were only around thirty of them still alive to compete for victory, on this blessed day when the gluttons Tadej Pogacar (title holder) and Mathieu Van der Poel had decided to stay warm at home and let the pawns explain themselves.
On the flat following the Mur, Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came out strong. The Dane, who rarely spares money, sped along with his mouth in the wind, well placed on his machine. Behind, the attacks followed one another but at the top of the third climb of Huy (31.5 km from the goal), he still had a 55” lead over a pack which had exploded under the leadership of… Williams.
A nest egg which melted inexorably to only 14” at the foot of the Ereffe hill (14.9 km). Andersen was swallowed up and it was once again in the extreme percentages of the Wall that victory would be decided.
Six French people in the first eleven
Nobody moved until the Criquielion bend and its 21% slope. But a little further up, 250 meters from the line, Williams took off on the left and took a few steps ahead. Behind, everyone seemed glued to the road and the Briton finished as best he could, mouth wide open and bike askew. He managed to resist the return of Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B & B Hôtels), who failed by just a meter.
The Norman (22 years old) thus confirms his great qualities as a puncher and his very strong start to the season (2nd in the Étoile de Bessèges, 8th in the Tour du Pays Basque and 10th in Tirreno-Adriatico). The Belgian Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) completed the podium.
Behind, five French people finished in the eleven, Benoît Cosnefroy (4th), Romain Grégoire (7th), Dorian Godon (8th), Guillaume Martin (10th) and Clément Champoussin (11th).
Winner at the start of the season of the Tour Down Under, Williams, who turned professional in 2018 with Bahrain Merida, achieved the greatest success of his career. We expect him to take the upper stage on Sunday on the roads of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But this time, Pogacar and Van der Poel will be there.
